State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo used taxpayer and charity money to pay for everything from political polls to power tools, from cars to farm equipment, from errands to shopping sprees, a grand jury charged yesterday.
Among the more than $2 million in allegedly illicit spending: Fumo (D., Phila.) hired private detectives to tail ex-girlfriends and dig up dirt on political rivals - including Gov. Rendell.
"Sen. Fumo didn't just step over the line," U.S. Attorney Patrick L. Meehan said yesterday. "He completely ignored it."
The grand jury indictment - 267 pages, 139 counts, carrying a possible 10-year prison sentence - came out one day after Fumo delivered a dramatic speech in the Senate in which he dismissed the pending charges as "falsities and half-truths."
Yesterday, Fumo was silent. Today, he will be fingerprinted and appear before a federal magistrate. Tomorrow, his lawyers have promised to hold a news conference to discuss the charges.
Fumo, 63, who has served as senator since 1978, was depicted by Meehan as a "greedy, manipulative" politician angling for ways to make the public and charities pay for his lavish lifestyle.
The indictment says Fumo once told a confidant that he had an acronym for one goal in his life - spending "OPM," that is, "other people's money."
"Because he was delivering large amounts of money to his Philadelphia constituents with one hand," Meehan said, "Vincent Fumo felt entitled to reach deeply into the pockets of Pennsylvania taxpayers with the other hand."
Fumo is charged with fraud, conspiracy, and with directing a cover-up - ordering computers scrubbed of e-mails after The Inquirer broke the news that the FBI was investigating him.
The indictment says Fumo exploited his Senate budget and power; the South Philadelphia charity he helped fund, Citizens' Alliance for Better Neighborhoods; and the Independence Seaport Museum for his personal and political use.
Grand jurors said Fumo:
Funneled more than $60,000 from the charity into an effort to block a dune-rebuilding project in South Jersey. The indictment says Fumo feared the project would ruin the ocean view at his Margate home.
Assigned one Senate aide to work for 18 months as "project manager" overseeing renovations at Fumo's 33-room mansion in Spring Garden, and paid another aide to clean the house.
Put other taxpayer-paid aides to work organizing political fund-raisers; putting together campaign mailings; paying Fumo's personal bills; driving Fumo's daughter to schools; driving his shirts to be laundered; fixing his TV; and packing boxes of Fumo bobblehead dolls.
Doled out fat state contracts to political consultants and others who did little or no state work.
Repeatedly cruised on museum yachts at a cost to the museum of more than $100,000. One trip included a $2,539 bill for a French meal.
Fumo was a driving force behind the funding for Citizens', striking deals with Peco Energy under which the power company gave the charity $17 million.
No criminal charges were brought in connection with Fumo's interaction with Peco. At a news conference yesterday, Meehan said the destruction of e-mails by Fumo staff likely meant the full story of the Peco donation would remain unknown.
Yesterday's indictment also claimed Fumo sought $100 million from Verizon, of which $15 million was to go to Citizens' Alliance. The communications company refused to put up any money.
Also charged in the indictment was Ruth Arnao, 51, former executive director of Citizens' Alliance and one of Fumo's closest friends. She was charged with 45 criminal counts and was said to have taken part in the fraud and obstruction. Her lawyer, Edwin J. Jacobs Jr., declined to comment yesterday.
Two former computer technicians on Fumo's staff, Leonard P. Luchko, 50; and Mark Eister, 30, were previously indicted on such obstruction charges - and now will go on trial with Fumo and Arnao. U.S. District Judge William Yohn had scheduled that trial for May, but yesterday's superceding indictment is likely to trigger a delay.
In another count in the new filing, Fumo is charged with aiding Arnao in filing a false tax return to the IRS on behalf of Citizens' Alliance in 2002.
On the tax form she signed, Arnao pledged that the charity had not been used for political purposes. It is illegal for nonprofit organizations to engage in political activity.
In part, the indictment levels charges that have previously surfaced. As has been reported, it noted that Citizens' Alliance spent $250,000 to pay for political polls and also secretly financed a lawsuit against a foe of Fumo's in the state Senate.
